Weirton plant sale urged

By PAUL GIANNAMORE, Business editor

WEIRTON — A number of federal legislators have sent a letter urging Mittal Steel USA to consider the sale of its steel properties in Weirton if it is forced to divest mills because of the merger between Arcelor and Mittal.

U.S. Reps. Bob Ney, R-Heath, and Ted Strickland, D-Lisbon, have sent the letter to Lou Schorsch, chief executive officer of Mittal Steel USA.

A total of 14 other members of the Ohio legislative delegation have signed the letter.

The letter states, “As recently as last year, this facility employed nearly 2,300 workers in a fully integrated steel mill. The decision to indefinitely idle the ironmaking and steelmaking facilities at Weirton has resulted in the permanent termination of nearly 1,000 workers.”

It was a little more than a year ago that Mittal idled the ironmaking blast furnaces, the steelmaking Basic Oxygen Plant and the slab-making continuous caster at Weirton. The company had said it was considering a restart of the facilities if business conditions warranted last fall, but then announced around Thanksgiving they were permanently idled.

Buyouts for terminated employees were offered in the spring, with a few dozen who chose to remain on a callback list returning to work in the plant’s finishing mills.

The letter to Mittal states, “Now that the Mittal Steel bid for Arcelor has taken a major step forward, we understand Mittal Steel may be required to divest itself of steel assets in the United States in order to avoid antitrust issues. If Mittal’s other ventures require a U.S. sale, we strongly urge you to consider selling the Weirton plant to the employees and an investor that the employees can partner with to save jobs in Weirton.”

At issue is the status of Canada’s Dofasco steel firm. Europe’s Arcelor won a bidding war for Dofasco prior to Mittal’s bid for combining with Arcelor. Mittal officials have said the steel firm would consider spinning off Dofasco to Germany’s Thyssen Krupp, which lost the bidding war for Dofasco to Arcelor.

However, Arcelor officials have indicated the firm wants to keep Dofasco.

U.S. antitrust officials are looking at the overlap of products in the combined Arcelor-Mittal, with tin being one of the major overlaps. Mittal officials have said tin is the future for the Weirton plant, relying on Weirton’s rich history as one of the world’s leading tin producers.

However, tin also is produced by the Mittal USA Sparrows Point, Md., plant, as well as by Dofasco plants, leading to concerns about the status of Weirton in Mittal USA’s future.

The Independent Steelworkers Union at Weirton has spoken with a steel investor, Mitch Hecht, who says he’s made an offer to Mittal to buy the ironmaking blast furnaces to operate them in a research capacity, not necessarily as a profit center. He would install a cold caster for iron to take the output of the blast furnaces.

There has been no further publicity about Hecht’s offer since it became public in early May.

The ISU said of Ney’s release of details about the letter to Schorsch that it continues to keep all options open.

“We have an ironmaking and steelmaking facility in Weirton that we believe is very viable and we continue to hope it will be restarted in the near future,” said Mark Glyptis, ISU president Friday. “We’ve always appreciated the support from Congressman Ney for the steel industry and the steelworkers of the Ohio Valley.”

Ney said in a release Friday about the Mittal letter, “Allowing the sale of the Mittal Steel Weirton plant to its employees would be incredibly beneficial for all involved. Reinstating ironmaking and steelmaking at this facility will not only bring back thousands of jobs to Weirton but will improve the Ohio Valley economy as well. I strongly encourage Mittal Steel to consider this option, as it can only provide positive results for everyone.”

Other members that signed the letter to Mittal Steel include Democratic Reps. Sherrod Brown, Marcy Kaptur, Tim Ryan, Stephanie Tubbs Jones; Republican Reps. Steve Chabot, Paul Gillmor, Steven LaTourette, Michael Oxley, Deborah Pryce, Ralph Regula, Jean Schmidt, Patrick Tiberi; and Republican Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, according to a release from Ney’s office.